Originally Posted by
DrIsotope
We can (mostly) all ride for hours and hours, but many people can't ride standing for more than 20-30 seconds.
That was what I was working on,
standing on the pedals. Some say
dancing on the pedals. I tried another approach.
First when watching the pro riders, its usually intense when attacking on the climbing stages. But what if a rider is not attacking and just wanted to see "how far" the standing (dancing) can go?
So far, it seems that the weight of the rider is doing maybe more than 50% of the work when "dancing". So, I tried to slow it down, the cadence I mean. Intentionally go "slow motion" and trying to keep the quads from being used by using a straight leg approach. That is, instead of a slight knee bend, the leg is kept straight at the top of the pedal stroke. What happens, is the quads do very little work and the body weight is deployed to push down the pedal.
That's how a rider can go for minutes while standing. Of course, you give up speed and all that. Any practical applications to a new skill? When the grade reaches 12% and you don't feel like racing against yourself, and you have enough cassette cluster to do it, then maybe.